CCP criticizes proposed OE2027 as “insufficient and continuity”

A Confederação do Comércio e Serviços de Portugal (CCP) said today that the proposal for a State Budget for 2027 delivered by the Government is “of continuity and insufficient for companies”.

“What changes in the IRC was already decided, the tax and contribution burden does not drop and the labor costs grow more than the economy. We will bring concrete proposals to the specialty to correct this situation”, said the president of the Confederation, Gustavo Paulo Duarte, quoted in a statement.

The CCP also underlines that the provisions of Tripartite Agreement 2025-2028 are not complied with, “since no reduction in autonomous taxation is expected”, and a gradual reduction of up to 20% by 2028 was defined.

The confederation recognises some positive points in the proposal, namely the maintenance of the incentive for wage valuation, adjusting to the value provided for in the Agreement (4.5%), and the maintenance of the tax regime for productivity, performance, profit participation and balance sheet gratifications.

Furthermore, the introduction of a tax incentive to workers’ housing is also seen as positive, although it applies “only to a limited number of workers” and does not solve “any fundamental problem”.

For the CCP “a change of method is necessary, avoiding individual reductions, year by year, disconnected from the labour market and that do not provide predictability to companies and workers”, therefore suggests the discussion of a medium-term fiscal policy on work.

The confederation also advocates a public investment plan beyond the PRR [Plan of Recovery and Resilience] and the fulfilment of the State's payment deadlines.

Following this evaluation, the CCP will deliver to the Government and parliamentary groups “concrete proposals for discussion at parliamentary headquarters in the specialty, on autonomous taxation, capitalization of companies and labour costs”, reaffirming also being available for consultation and stability, which “considers preferable to any scenario of political crisis”.

The Government handed over to the Assembly of the Republic the proposal for a State Budget for 2027 on October 8, before the deadline laid down by law.

The budget proposal foresees an economic growth of 2.3% this year and 2.1% in 2027 and balanced accounts this year and a surplus of 0.1% in 2027.

The proposal will be discussed and voted on in general between 27 and 28 October. The overall final vote is scheduled for November 24, after the discussion process in the specialty.